10 states with the narrowest networks

Health insurers around the nation are responding rapidly to the potentially cost-increasing elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

One response: narrow networks, in which plan members have fewer choices of physicians if they want the benefits of remaining in their network. Now, the University of Pennsylvania has taken a close look at the narrow network trend and has reported back that Georgians in general find themselves in the narrowest networks of all 50 states. A dozen states had no narrow networks, by the definition created by the researchers. For states that had narrow networks, the lowest percentages were found in Idaho and North Carolina.